Once Upon a Bookshelf

I’ve been getting into Hallowe’en a lot more this year than I normally do, and had been craving another kind of Hallowe’en-ish book. Meaning something that wouldn’t completely scare me but that has elements of Hallowe’en monsters in it. I thought werewolves would’ve done it - I generally find them more creepy than, say, Vampires, but alas. I should not have chosen an urban fantasy about werewolves because it didn’t even kind of make me shiver.

Not that this was a horrible book. Elena is a special werewolf - not only is she one of the few bitten werewolves in the world (as opposed to the ones that are genetic werewolves), but she’s also the ONLY female werewolf. She’s also decided to leave the Pack, and has moved to - get this - Toronto. (Seriously, how many urban fantasy novels take place, at least in part, in the big, “impressive,” and utterly Canadian T.O.? The book got MAJOR brownie points for the location.)

Everything’s going great for Elena - steady job, serious boyfriend, etc. etc. until some non-Pack werewolves start attacking the Pack. Elena’s been called back to the Pack to help figure out what’s going on and eliminate the problem.

Oh, there were times that I positively wanted to shake some of the characters because they were being stupid. The plot was alright; kind of exciting at times, but dragged at others. Not a book that I couldn’t put down, thus am not going to read the other books in the series.

The first chapter of Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones is online!

Only two more unread Hornblower books after this one! (Oh, plus The Life & Times.) I must savour them, because I don’t know what I’m going to do afterwards. I’m going to be at a bit of a loss. (I know, I know, there’s always O’Brian’s Master & Commander, but… it’s just not Horatio.)

I think I enjoyed this book more than all the other Hornblower books I’ve read so far. This time, Hornblower is a Commodore and has a whole bunch of ships in his command. Of course, Bush is there. Bush has to be there, just for the fact that he’s Bush. Hornblower is involved with Russia - doing everything he can to prevent Napoleon from taking over even more of the world than he already has. (Oh wait, isn’t that what he’s supposed to do for a good portion of this series?) Of course, a twist is thrown in when one of the men of Hornblower’s crew unsuccessfully attempts to kill the Prince of Sweden and the Czar of Russia.

Hornblower was much more enjoyable as a character in this book. Not to say that I don’t usually enjoy him, but he’s actually loosening up a little bit, and allowing himself to not be all stoic in front of other people. He’s growing much more fond of those who serve in the navy with him, and it’s really rather endearing.

You know what I really, really hate? (In hopes to be not too spoilerish for those who haven’t read this but plan on it…) When I’ve just started to like a character when BAM! He’s dead. It’s different than if I had liked the character all along - I feel at least like I’ve appreciated my time reading about him. But if I just started to like the character? I feel so betrayed by the author about the fact that this character is now dead. How could you make me just start to like someone and then kill him off?! I mean, really. Totally unfair and I get totally bitter.

(Oh, I totally love that Bush has his own Wikipedia entry. That makes me all giggly and fangirlish!)

Grace is not your normal teen. At 14, she became a pro tennis player. Now, at 16, she’s won countless tennis competitions, including Wimbledon, she’s a cover girl, and she just doesn’t want to do it all anymore. After an emergency phone call made to her mother from the boiler room, Grace’s mom takes control of the situation … and sends Grace to Alaska to hide her from paparazzi until Grace has things figured out.

Ah, typical young adult books that have not too much depth, and are extremely predictable, but that have this pull that makes you not able to put it down until you are finished. Ah, light fluffy reading that I need every once in a while to take a break from the other heavier books I have on the go. How much I need books like you once in a while, but only once in a while because I fear that if I were to read you more than that, then my brain might turn to mush.

So yes. Good. Predictable. But cute.

I really don’t know why it’s taken me so long to read this book. I loved the movie, and had heard so many good things about the graphic novels.

The Hard Goodbye is the first in the series, and focuses around Marv. One night Marv awakes to find the woman sleeping next to him, Goldie, dead - and discovers that he’s being framed for her murder. While he’s attempting to avoid the cops - and they’re all bad cops in Sin City - he’s also trying to exact revenge on the person who actually killed Goldie and set him up.

There were parts of this story that disturbed me, though not nearly as much as they had disturbed me when I had first seen the movie. I think I must have gotten a little … not so much used to the idea, but perhaps more desensitized, since I’ve seen the movie.

I have to admit that at times I had a hard time remember to read the story because I was paying so much attention to the pictures. And then at other times, I forgot to look at the pictures because I was enjoying the story too much. The narration drew me in completely, and the artwork… it was amazing how much can be put into something in just black and white. You can feel the movement in some of the panels… There’s this one part of the story where Marv is walking through the rain, where the lines of the rain get heavier or lighter to suggest his body, and just those panels drew me so completely in. It just amazes me what some people can do artistically.